Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape

The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape was begun in 1943 by the
then assistant chief of the Hispanic Division Francisco
Aguilera (1899-1979) to record on magnetic tape original voice recordings
of selections of the writings of contemporary poets and prose writers. In
recent years, interviews of authors have also been videotaped. To date, close to 700 authors have been recorded; among
them are nine Nobel laureates. Three are from Spain: Juan Ramón Jiménez,
Vicente Aleixandre, and Camilo José Cela, and six from Latin America:
Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda (Chile), Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala),
Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), Octavio Paz (Mexico), and Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru).
Other authors of note include Jorge Luis Borges, Julio
Cortázar, Elena Poniatowska, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Amado, and Nélida
Piñón. The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape: A
Descriptive Guide (Washington: Library of Congress, 1974) provides
information on the first 232 authors who recorded for the Archive. Writers
from the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, the Caribbean and U.S. Hispanics
have been recorded. To date 32 countries are represented in this diverse
audiovisual collection which includes readings in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan,
French, Náhuatl, Zapotec, Aymara, English and Dutch. About 50 percent
of the writers were recorded overseas by curators Francisco Aguilera or Georgette
Dorn, and sponsored by various gift funds. The remainder of the recordings
have been taped at the Library of Congress. Researchers may listen to the
recordings in the Hispanic Division Reading Room by appointment.